If I sense a pattern of any politician misleading constituents about their own or their opponent's military service, I believe they deserve to be shunned by the voters. In this case, the offender is: Linda McMahon. She and her staff leaked - to the New York Times - one ten-second soundbite from one 2008 speech by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal when he refers to his military service "in" Vietnam instead of "during." A torrent of McMahon ads flooded Connecticut, and a 13 point Blumenthal lead in the polls has narrowed to 3 points. Before Blumenthal could even respond, WTIC-AM's conservative Republican Jim Vicevich and GOP state chairman Chris Healy sounded downright giddy over the potential damage to the presumed frontrunner and successor to Senator Chris Dodd. Blumenthal later came off as very defensive and indignant, which only served to stoke the talking heads on TV who insisted he should own up to the apparent distortion of his military service. But something failed to happen. Not only was there no pattern of his making claims to having served in Vietnam, but he actually clarifies himself within that same 2008 speech. There were also many instances through the years when he stated that his military service during Vietnam was purely stateside. Even as the AP said the following day that he had "correctly stated" his service, local TV websites are claiming "unanswered questions linger" as they focus on "political fallout." As I was constantly reminded in broadcasting, audiences have shorter attention spans than ever. An initial soundbite blast without any context can unfairly derail a political campaign. If some pattern of deception is eventually uncovered, I'll be the first to say Blumenthal should bow out. Right now the only intentional deception is from McMahon. This is a sad week for state politics.
UPDATE: The narrowed gap in the Senate poll seems to have widened again, with Blumenthal getting back to a double digit lead over McMahon within a week.
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